conveyancing
- fair trading

If
you want to buy or sell a home, land
or investment property you’ll have to sign a contract. The legal
work involved in preparing the sales contract, mortgage and other
related documents, is called conveyancing. It’s possible to do your
own conveyancing, however, most people get a licensed conveyancer or
solicitor to do the work for them. This fact sheet explains what is
involved with conveyancing.

Who
can do conveyancing work?

Three
options for doing your
conveyancing are:

using
a licensed conveyancer

using
a solicitor

doing
it yourself.

Before
you start organising your
conveyancing, it’s important to do your homework first.

Using
a conveyancer

In
NSW, conveyancers must be licensed
with the Office of Fair Trading. Most conveyancers hold an
unrestricted licence that allows them to perform the full scope of
conveyancing work for residential, commercial and rural property.
Conveyancers are licensed to do legal work such as preparing
documents, giving legal advice on contracts and explaining the
implications. Before you decide to use a particular conveyancer,
check if they are licensed with us first.

To
find a conveyancer, look them up in
the Yellow Pages under ‘Conveyancing Services’ or call one of the
professional associations listed on this fact sheet.

Licensed
conveyancers must have
professional indemnity insurance to protect you in case they make a
mistake or are negligent in their work. If they are dishonest with
the money you have entrusted to them, you may have access to the
Compensation Fund administered by Fair Trading.QUICK TIP – If you
want to complain about a conveyancer, call Fair Trading on 9895 0297.

Using
a solicitor

While
conveyancers and solicitors are
equally qualified to do conveyancing work, solicitors can also give
you legal advice about other matters.
Solicitors,
like licensed conveyancers,
must also have professional indemnity insurance for your protection.

To
find a solicitor who does
conveyancing:

look
up the Yellow Pages (under
‘Conveyancing Services’)

call
the Law Society of NSW on 9926
0333

do
a search for specialists in
‘property law’ in your local area using the ‘Find a Lawyer’
page on the Law Society’s website www.lawsociety.com.au

To
complain about a solicitor call the
Legal Services Commissioner on 9377 1800 or 1800 242 958.
Doing
your own conveyancing

Doing
your own conveyancing can be
risky because you can’t get the same insurance available to a
licensed conveyancer or solicitor. This means that if you make a
mistake you are responsible and there’s nowhere you can go for
financial compensation. For example, your solicitor or conveyancer
may fail to make sure the vendor has disclosed everything they are
legally required to, such as an order to demolish the place. If you
suffer loss as a result of this negligence you may be able to take
action against them – that’s the difference!

Do-it-yourself
conveyancing kits are
available from:

Law
Consumers’ Association Tel: 9564
6933

Australian
Property Law Kits Tel: 1800
252 808.

CAUTION
– If you do your own
conveyancing you are effectively taking on all the responsibility
without insurance against making mistakes. So make sure you know what
you are doing.

The
conveyancing process

The
conveyancing process can involve
the following steps:

arranging
building and pest inspections

examining
a strata inspection report if
the property is part of a strata scheme

arranging
finance if necessary

examining
and exchanging the contract
of sale

paying
the deposit

arranging
payment of stamp duties

preparing
and examining the mortgage
agreement

checking
if there are outstanding
arrears or land tax obligations

finding
out if any government authority
has a vested interest in the land or if any planned development could
effect the property (eg. local council, Sydney Water, Roads and
Traffic Authority)

finding
out any information that may
not have been previously disclosed such as a fence dispute or illegal
building work

calculating
adjustments for council and
water rates for the property settlement

overseeing
the change of title with the
Land and Property Information NSW

completing
any final checks prior to
settlement

attending
settlement.

IMPORTANT
– Before the conveyancer
or solicitor starts the work it is important for you to have a
realistic idea of how much it will cost. The best way to do this is
to ask for an itemised statement of the likely costs.

Costs

Fees
will vary between solicitors and
conveyancers as there is no official charge for conveyancing. In
addition to a legal service fee you will usually be charged for
‘disbursements’.

Legal
practitioners and conveyancers
are required to disclose their costs to clients, including the
clients’ right to negotiate a costs agreement, receive bills and be
advised of changes, among other things.
Need more information?